About

About

The Institute of Medical Sciences (IMS) is the flagship research institution of the University.

Its mission is to lead and support biomedical research within the School of Medicine, Medical Sciences & Nutrition, coordinating with the other biomedical research institutes at the Foresterhill campus (The Rowett Institute and The Institute of Applied Health Sciences).

With the focus to develop future effective therapies, the IMS is the largest research institute at the University of Aberdeen, encompassing 411 researchers and support staff. These comprise 84 principal investigators, 106 post-doctoral scientists and academics, 75 technicians and 140 PhD students. In the last 12 months, staff at the IMS raised £30 million in research funding and published 415 peer-reviewed papers.

The IMS is housed in dedicated buildings on the Foresterhill Health Campus, situated on the central site of the state-of-the-art Aberdeen hospitals, boasting one of the largest medical campuses in Europe. The IMS houses the  European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) Centre of Excellence.

The IMS provides excellent laboratory space and facilities necessary for outstanding research and gives unique opportunities for translational investigations with internationally-recognised clinicians, as well as collaborations with world-leading institutions. In addition, the IMS allocates specific support for:

  • Studentships - providing the opportunity for local and international students to train in science in a world-class environment
  • Core services-including:
    • the Centre for Genome-Enabled Biology and Medicine (CGEBM) provides excellent genomics expertise and state-of-the-art infrastructure, including next generation sequencing capabilities, qPCR facilities, bioinformatics and biostatistics, as well as facilities for single cell analysis and our newest development into spatial biology, with GeoMx DSP and nCounter systems,
    • the qPCR Facility (for rapid, high-throughput molecular quantification),
    • the Aberdeen Proteomics Facility (whose staff have decades of experience in high throughput protein separation, exploration and identification),
    • the Iain Fraser Cytometry Centre (with excellent support for multi-parameter analyses of cellular systems, and bio-contained high-speed sorting of single cells and particles),
    • the Microscopy and Histology Facility (which provides expertise in histology, light, fluorescence, confocal, transmission and scanning electron microscopy),
    • the Aberdeen Biomedical Imaging Centre (which includes preclinical and clinical MRI, PET CT and in vivo imaging),
    • Scottish Biologics (which generates custom antibodies for research and commercialisation)
    • and a state-of-the-art Medical Research Facility. 
  • Seminars - invitations are given to the world’s top scientists to visit and speak at the IMS, disseminating new ideas and concepts in the biology of health and disease